90 per cent of landlords would Airbnb short-let their property

And 58 per cent don’t know about new legislation

In a recent survey conducted by London estate agent Portico, 90 per cent of landlords said they would use Airbnb to short-let their property. This growing trend has seen landlords increasingly use both Airbnb for short-lets and estate agents for long-term tenants collectively to avoid rental voids.

There are many benefits to using the service for landlords. It offers a solution to an empty property and lapse in revenue between long-term tenants, it gives landlords more freedom to buy or sell their property when the time is right for them instead of waiting out tenancies and Airbnb’s reputation and popularity means the audience are already there and searching for the London properties so guest stays can be organised quickly and easily.

Due to the growing popularity of the scheme, rules and regulations, such as the 90 day limit in London, have been put in place to protect tenants and stop the scheme from causing drastic changes to the rental market in London. Interestingly, 58 per cent of landlords, in the survey, did not know about this new legislation.

To make the use of Airbnb and long-term lettings easier for landlords, London estate agent Portico offer ‘Portico Host’, an Airbnb management service in London for landlords advertising their property through Airbnb. The team manage everything from the setup of the property, photography, to professional cleaning and guest communication throughout their stay.

“It made excellent sense for us to step over from our sales and letting position into property management services,” said Mark Lawrinson, Regional Director at Portico. “We know London, we know the market, we know how to best help landlords and we have all of the services already set up within our workflow. Portico Host has been running in London for a year and we aim to double the number of properties we host in 2018.”